Chicken Pasties

Before I go any further, I want to keep you from making the same embarrassing mistake I did. When referring to a savory hand-pie that is popular in the UK, pasty is pronounced past-y, not paste-y.  You’re welcome.

I’ve visited the UK twice and both times I ate more than my fair share of pasties.  Pasties come with fillings like chicken and veggie, chicken curry, beef and mushrooms, pork and apples, and many more.  My favorite was the chicken and veggie.  It was a hand-held chicken pot pie...what’s not to like?

I ate my most memorable chicken pasty the day Cara and I visited Chatsworth House. Chatsworth was used as Mr. Darcy's Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. My obsession with Jane Austen began in elementary school when I caught part of the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice on PBS one night. You know, the Colin Firth version. Go ahead and take a second...sigh. I even joined an online Austen community when I was 14 and I still visit Pemberley almost daily. Needless to say, when I had the opportunity to explore "Pemberley" for myself I was more than a little excited. The house and grounds were spectacular. It was everything I'd imagined and more. Chatsworth has such a rich history ranging from scandalous Georgiana Cavendish, the 5th Duchess of Devonshire to the inspiring, Elvis loving, Dowager Duchess, Deborah Cavendish.

As you can see from the outdoor pictures we visited on a cold, cloudy day.  After we explored the grounds we were more than ready for something warm and yummy to eat.  Chatsworth has a restaurant and small snack shops for hungry guests.  It was at one of these snack shops that Cara and I each ordered a chicken pasty.  It was the perfect thing.  It was simple and warm and flaky and completely delicious.  The best part?  They kept our hands warm as we ate them!  

The recipe below is just my basic chicken pot pie recipe wrapped in delicious flaky pie dough. I used a dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it is FANTASTIC. So buttery. So flaky. So perfect.

Chicken Pasties
Source: RegansRamblings.blogspot.com
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

½ medium yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 large red potatoes, chopped

4 Tbsp butter, divided

1 Tbsp olive oil

½ (12 oz) bag of frozen peas

2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped

4 Tbsp flour

1 ½ cups chicken broth

½  tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

salt

pepper

1 batch All Butter Pie Crust Dough from Smitten Kitchen

1 egg

1 Tbsp water

Instructions:

Bring the chopped potatoes to a boil in salted water and cook until just fork tender.  Meanwhile, saute the onions, carrots, and celery in 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil until tender.  When the potatoes are done, drain them and add to the sauted vegetables.  Add the chicken and remaining 3 Tbsp of butter.  Once the butter is melted, sprinkle the flour over the mixture and mix everything together.  Cook for a minute to cook out the raw flour taste.  Mix in the chicken broth, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Cook until the mixture has thickened to a “pot pie” consistancy. Remove from heat and place in refrigerator to chill, at least one hour.  

When mixture is chilled, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and roll out half of your pie crust dough out to approximately ⅛”.  Using a 6” biscuit cutter (or bowl, if you’re cool like me.) cut out 7 rounds.  Roll each circle a little more then put ⅓ c. of the filling on half of each circle.  Wet your fingers with a little cold water and dampen the edges of half of the circle then fold over and seal close to the filling.  You can either use a fork to seal it or use the method I prefer.  Simply press down firmly to seal the dough, then starting at one end, fold the edges up and over to create a twisted edge look.  After filling and sealing all the pies, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to re-chill.

Repeat with second half of dough.  Whisk together the egg and 1 Tbsp. of water to make an egg wash.  Remove the pies from the freezer and brush liberally with the egg wash.  Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown.  Remove immediately to cooling racks then serve.

Note: You will probably have filling left over...it's delicious eaten on it's own or you can make more dough for additional pasties or a great chicken pot pie.